The internet as you already know it

Today many Nokia handsets come with a browser that is not only able to read WAP and XHTML pages, but also standard Web pages written in HTML. You've probably at least heard of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - it's what traditional web pages are written in.

Of course, there are ups and downs to mobile browsing. The small screen can limit the browsing experience, and mobile data connection speeds aren’t yet comparable to browsing in fixed data networks. The speed of the network really comes in to play when the page you're requesting is large (i.e. it has a lot of images or other files). The upside is the fantastic convenience of mobility: when your phone's equipped with an HTML browser, you can access most Web pages.

Changing the protocol

With the introduction of XHTML browsers on mobile phones, it was necessary to change the data transfer protocol. "Protocol" simply means a communication language; if two devices use the same protocol, they can send commands to each other. WAP uses a specific protocol called WAP Stack, whereas XHTML and HTML browsers use TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). You may have heard of TCP/IP before: it's the same protocol that your PC uses to access the Internet, and that's one reason why your mobile phone and PC can read the same web pages.

What a good mobile browser should do?

The capability is there, so mobile browsers should live up to the possibilities. HTTP, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, used to define the look and feel of a site), SSL (Secure Sockets Layer, for more secure browsing including shopping), and JavaScript are some of the commonly supported technologies.

In addition, the following may make mobile browsers more useful:

• Multiple Content Types: browsers should read current (and sometimes legacy) versions of HTML, XHTML MP, WAP CSS, WML, WMLScript, and ECMAScript MP
• Plug-In support: download plug-ins for viewing different content types
• HTTP File Upload: upload images from your phone's local file directory to a web server, for example.
• Multiple Content Rendering Options: a good browser will render pages nicely for the small screen, using incremental page rendering (so you don't have to wait for the whole page to load before you see anything), and allow the options of narrow or wide layout (so you can choose if you scroll sideways or not).

Many other features may be added to mobile browsers to make them more like standard Internet interfaces: bookmarks, download progress indicators, URL auto complete... the list goes on. As 3G technologies make data transfer faster, as an increasing number of websites write their pages in XHTML and take mobile Internet access into account, and as mobile screens get more sophisticated, maybe you won't be surprised to find yourself one day using your phone to access the Internet, and not thinking twice about it.

HTML-enabled Nokia products